Messiah Culture

Stepping Through the Glass

Many of us love seeing the untamed beast shackled in our sanctuary called the zoo. To stare at a lion in the man made cage gives us a sense of wonder and awe. This five hundred pound mass of muscle and power is right before my eyes captured and subdued. That's how most of us like to see God as well. Captured and subdued.

Tame and predictable. Set within our boundaries. Hey God, "You can now go only where we let you go. We will define your boundaries."

Now step through the glass at the zoo and into the wild, next to the same lion. Is your heart pounding yet? Are you nervous?

That's where God invites us to live. Next to him outside of the cage we call religion. He wants out of our zoo and invites us into the wild. To live with him in a dangerous unpredictable journey that demands all of us. Trusting God is like following a wild lion, very unpredictable. I know his character, but not his next move.

Imagine living around Jesus. People are trying to walk on water, that's not normal to us. That's outside of the cage we have built for God.

What about healing the sick, seeing a man who does not have an arm stretch out his nub to reach for the Messiah and an elbow grows then a forearm stretches forth into a hand with fingers. Yeah that's normal. Jesus can not live in our cage we have crafted for him. 

We think God is in our cage but when we really get honest and look inside, the cage is empty, cause God does not journey with us on our terms. He wants all of us or nothing at all.

Jesus went to the other side of the lake and cast a legion of  demons out of a man. Three thousand in number into some local pigs. Oh I forgot, that's normal everyday living for us. Or should it be?

Imagine waking up while following Jesus back in the day. Unpredictable would be a good word to use. Wild. Adventurous. Untamed. All these words come to mind. How about CHALLENGING.

All of us or nothing at all. That is intense to say the least. But it is really simple. When your sick of your dead end burnt out way of living, he wants all of you! When you find yourself in all kinds of addictions and pain, he wants all of you! When the caged style of religion actually buries you alive, he wants all of you! Broken, hurting and abused, he wants all of you! Even if you have been keeping him in a cage, he still wants all of you!

The reason he wants all of you is simple. His love is jealous for you.

When I am broken and shattered, he wants all of me! I have found that he puts things back together pretty well. He is a master craftsman and pays attention to detail.

What God is doing in my family and our church has brought challenge. But all I can dream about is life with him out of the cage. Much like Jesus lived. If God sees the life of Christ as normal, then I want to be normal like Jesus. To live with him, untamed and free from my cage!

The Lion is on the move and he is setting hearts free. Are you ready for the journey of your life? Step through the glass...

A Pillow Soaked with Tears

This is a Blog written by my beautiful wife Kristi, my warrior bride!

As I am riding down an old dirt road at 6:30 in the morning the sun is beginning to rise and its beautiful warm red glow is shouting to me; “Today is a new day!” Then as if the Lord himself was speaking to me the words of the song playing on my Big Yellow School Bus hit me like a bolt of lighting: 

 

Turn me around 

Pick me up 

Undo what Iʼve become 

Bring me back to a place of forgiveness and grace 

I need you 

Your the only one who can undo what Iʼve become 

Why? Last night as I tucked my baby girls into bed and prayed over them I began to express the importance of loving your enemies and praying for those who hurt you. As i turned out the light and laid my head down my Anger and Fear towards those who have hurt me was laughing at me and reminding me how big of a hypocrite I was. Sometimes its so easy to encourage and lead others to the truth but when you step into the ring with the enemy we forget truth and get lost in our rights: the right to be angry, the right to say your lying, the right to call names, the right to point out their faults and the list goes on...MY RIGHTS! As I drifted off to sleep in the midst of my, “This is what I'm going to say to all those "blanking" people when i see them again speech”, I began to cry and realize somewhere deep inside me that I had given up all MY RIGHTS when i submitted myself to the Almighty and all He desired from me at the moment was trust! 

So with my final miniutes of alertness and a pillow soaked with tears I asked my Father to do what I could not and help me to do what only His spirit desired...Forgive and Love! As I drove my school bus the next morning the Spirit within me stirred and My Father answered my prayer. You see forgiveness is easy when we understand that there is one greater than ourselves at work in our lives. Nothing goes unseen and Justice is the Lords and His alone. Love is easy when we realize that we were loved in the midst of our sin and He was calling us out of the darkness we were so entrenched in because He Loved. We are to be an example of our Father and bring glory to His name by doing things outside our natural ability! The Spirit within me is the only one who could unravel all the hurt, disappointment, fear, and anger and refocus my eyes on Truth! 

Truth: Brian(my husband) and I have been called to a specific purpose in the Kingdom of God. For us to water down, retreat, pacify or live below that call in order to please man would be an injustice to the one who called us. 

Truth: our lives are dedicated to training, teaching, equipping, loving, living life with all those who find themselves within our midst and together going after the Presence of God with out apology.

Truth: some may not go, so be it, as for us we move forward despite the nay sayer, despite others fears, despite religion,  toward the heart of our Father, Relentless and Fierce!

Truth: The Almighty did not call us to a life that pleased man he called us to one that rises above the crowd to hear His voice and obey no matter the persecution. Our Father, the maker of Heaven and Earth, the one who flung the stars and call us by name, called us to live a life of total Abandonment! 

Truth: when opposition steps in and stares you down, when opposition screams in every direction hold your head high keep your heart in check choose to live by the Spirit and Love! 

As I parked my bus and drove home to see my wonderful husband my heart had been changed and a new fire burned within me! Somewhere between North Boone Bus Barn and Belvidere High the Lord turned my ashes into Beauty and reminded me that we are all just a Beautiful Mess! 

May your lives be full of this revelation and the next time its hard for you to forgive or Love and your caught up in the cycle of MY RIGHTS remember their is a Father who desires to do what you can not...

To God be all the Glory!

I Don't Care if the Dog Dies

I said those words to both of my girls. One got angry and the other was understandably calm.

So here is the full story. We are walking home form the park and my four year old sweetheart has a six foot piece of leather in her hand with a one hundred pound American Bulldog on the other end of it. We are on the road heading home and I am teaching my daughter how to control the leash with the freak of nature on the other end, Brutus. He really is the best dog I have ever had.

So one of my main teaching points to my thirty five pound four year old is let go of the leash if he starts to run and you lose control. She replies, "But daddy what if he gets hit by a car?" I said, I don't care if that dog dies, let go of the leash." I have no chance to explain before she gives me the look and starts calling me on the carpet for what I said. To her in her little world all she could think of me was cruel. She can't see what I fully mean yet. She does not comprehend it yet.

And to my rescue here comes my nine year old to explain. Calm and collected she says to the younger sister, "What dad means is that he is more concerned with you being safe. That's why he said drop the leash, so that you would be safe, even if the dog gets hit by a car. Dad would hate for Brutus to get hurt but he would protect you before the dog if he had to. 

The younger sister is now calming down and realizing my heart in the matter.

Perspective is everything isn't it? 

So let me challenge you for a minute regarding perspective. How easy is it for you to change your view point? To many of us like to play it safe when it comes to change. But I have learned that walking with God is most adventurous and change happens naturally as he leads!

It is important to ask questions and wrestle with our view points. You might find yourself in the position of my four year old when it comes to certain views or beliefs. You might be in a situation where a person with greater wisdom could help you see better. I know I am in this position alot when it comes to life. That's why I study the word of God and the hebraic worldview. Its the reason I go away and worship and study. The same reason for all of the rich relationships I build in life. PERSPECTIVE... I grow from other peoples perspective as we all learn lesson from the Holy Spirit together. What they learn now because of my relationship with them, I learn! What I learn, they learn.

None of us will ever be at a place where we can explain everything, that's why we need each other! If a person ever thinks they have arrived at this place, punch them for me please!